Hartford's Finance Director Is Leaving

Council Gives City Manager Ok For Third Nationwide Search

December 12, 2000|By ERIC M. WEISS; Courant Staff Writer

Just hours after a city hall ceremony to swear in new police and fire chiefs, the Hartford city council approved measures Monday to tackle another management crisis, this one in the finance department.

The council authorized City Manager Saundra Kee Borges to hire, on a consulting basis, former Finance Director William J. Cochran and to pay for a third nationwide search for a permanent director.

FOR THE RECORD - Correction was published on 12/21/2000.William J. Hogan served as Hartford's permanent finance director from 1995 to 1997, after serving for a time as acting director. Hogan's employment status was unclear in a Dec. 12 story on Page B1.

The moves were prompted by the decision of acting Finance Director Emily N. Mokriski to leave at the end of the year. After postponing her retirement time and again, Mokriski said her latest decision is final.

``I'm tired,'' said Mokriski, who has earned the respect of her city hall colleagues with her hard work and commitment to the city for 21 years. ``My family wants me at home.''

The city finance department has not had a permanent director presence since William J. Hogan left in 1997. And even Hogan, who took over from Cochran in 1993, was technically an acting director because he was not a city resident, Kee Borges said.

Hogan was followed by Raymond Z. Harasymiw and Mokriski, who all served in senior positions under Cochran.

Now, Kee Borges said, there is no other senior manager qualified to immediately step into the top spot after Mokriski.

Until a new finance director can be found, the city will pay Cochran $140 an hour for up to 25 hours a week over the next six months.

Kee Borges said Cochran has the institutional memory and the skills to move the city through the next budget cycle and coordinate the sale of millions of dollars' worth of city bonds.

``Everyone came in around the same time and everyone is leaving around the same time,'' Kee Borges said of the turnover in the department.

Kee Borges said she has not ignored the brain drain in the finance department for seven years, but has had trouble finding qualified candidates to fill the senior jobs.

She said a good economy and an outdated salary structure had prevented her from filling the job.

While the council approved earlier this year a controversial series of pay raises, Kee Borges said it has been difficult to find candidates.

Two searches by The PAR Group over the past year have been unsuccessful.

The city was closely looking at Judith Blackwell, a former top official in Atlanta, but ``things didn't work out,'' Kee Borges said. She also decided against offering the job to another finalist, whom she declined to name.

Kee Borges said she has dropped The PAR Group and asked the council for permission to hire The Mercer Group Inc., another headhunting firm. The council agreed to the request Monday. Kee Borges did not immediately know the cost of the search.

The manager said she is looking to rebuild the finance department's senior staff, both with outsiders and by grooming people from within city hall.